Dark Water
by cor aut mors
Summary: There has never been a safe place for Antonina Dolohov. Charlie Weasley/OC.
1. THROUGH THE NARROW CRACK

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing from the Harry Potter universe.

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**Full Summary: **There has never been a safe place for Antonina Dolohov. Terrorized at home by her tyrannical mother and Death Eater father, she lost three years of her life to her mother's Imperius curse at the height of Lord Voldemort's power. Upon her mother's death she discovers she must protect her little sister Kira from the aftermath of a terrible war and the vestiges of their powerful, bloodthirsty family. Can she cooperate with the Ministry and the Order to bring her father to justice?

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**Warnings:** Violence, language, post-war, with mentions of abuse both mental and physical.

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**Author's Note: **I lost my way for a while and haven't posted here in more than a year. It was about time I came back, and I thought this was the perfect fic to post. Please review if you like this. I really enjoy writing it, and it's good practice to bust through my writer's block.

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Kira's pale face peered at me in the gloom, her blue eyes huge with terror. Reaching out to clasp my half-sister's hand, I pressed my index finger against my lips to indicate she should be quiet. We stood tense and rigid in her bedroom. Light from the hallway crept under the crack beneath the door, reaching for the toes of our shoes. Looking down, I stared at my sister's flimsy sandals, wishing desperately that we'd had more time to do this.

Was that our father downstairs? Or someone else... He could be dead, or captured, and we wouldn't know until we read about it in the Prophet. I scoured rubbish bins outside the Ministry hoping to find a copy of the newspaper, but there was nothing about Antonin Dolohov anywhere besides the occasional printing of his wanted poster. I wasn't sure what I'd feel if I found my father's name in the obituaries. Relief, perhaps; one less evil man in the world would benefit everyone.

"Nina," my sister breathed. I squeezed her hand and hoped she wouldn't say anything more. The floorboards creaked in the room below us. Kira trembled. I took her by the shoulders and looked at her.

"Take my broom," I hissed, lifting one hand and pointing at the window. "Climb out and fly away." I let my sister go but she scrabbled for me in fear even as I went to pick up my broom, the handle blissfully familiar in my hand as I took it from where I'd left it, resting against the wall. The bags we'd been packing with our things sat on her bed, mine zipped up and ready to go, hers still opened and bulging with clothes and the few precious things she loved. I came back to her and thrust the broom into her hands.

"I can't," Kira said, her voice rising with fear. I clasped her face between my hands and fiercely kissed her forehead.

"You have to," I told her when my lips left her skin. I urged her towards the window. Reaching out, I unlatched the lock and flung the window open wide. We'd come in through the back door, having paced the perimeter of the house until I'd broken through the magical wards. They felt like my fathers; sturdy and hard. Father had run when Lord Voldemort was defeated, but mother stayed. She was killed by Aurors in a wand fight a few days after, and though I didn't find out the details straight away I knew she was gone when all the strings holding me up snapped. I was free, and she was gone. Reading about it in the Daily Prophet was inconsequential.

"Come with me." Tears were welling up in my sister's eyes. "Don't make me go on my own."

"You need to get somewhere safe," I said softly. I could hear voices now, from downstairs. It seemed likely that they didn't know we were here yet, but soon they would. The prickle I'd felt running down my back spelled out danger. I attempted a smile to bolster my sister's courage. "I'll come find you soon. I'm just going to see who's downstairs."

"No," Kira gasped, her dark eyes blowing wide. "Please, Nina. Don't do it."

"Hey, don't worry about me," I said. "I'll be fine." Zipping up her bag, I set the strap over her shoulder and brushed her hair away from her forehead with my fingers. "Be brave for me, _mola lyev_."

My sister hesitated before slowly climbing out the window and onto the sloping roof outside her bedroom. She looked back at me and I nodded encouragingly, watching her climb onto the broom. She was so little, her frame fragile. Kira was so tiny a gust of wind could throw her right off the broomstick, but her grip was strong on the handle. Like I'd taught her.

When she kicked off into the air, I blew her a kiss and shut the window. Standing in her room, I waited until she'd disappeared from sight before I focused on the noises downstairs again. My steps towards the door were as silent as they could be on the wooden floor. Drawing my wand I stood and listened, hearing several people talking. After a few moments I determined there were two men and one woman. Perhaps more.

Stretching my hand out towards the doorknob, I carefully twisted it and opened the door a crack, enough to hear the intruder's voices better. "Are you sure Dolohov isn't here?" one of the men said, his voice bristling with anger.

"Why would he come back here, anyway?" the woman countered. "He doesn't care about his family. He's hardly even human. He's been working for you-know-who from the very beginning. He's a monster, and monsters don't die easy. He's still out there, I can guarantee it."

Listening, I leaned my weight forwards and started to inch out of Kira's bedroom. I held my breath for so long as I shuffled towards the landing of the stairs that my chest began to ache. My own body felt like a prison again as I desperately begged it not to give me away, not to tread too heavily or breathe too loudly. I hadn't been in control of myself in three years. I wasn't sure if I was in control now either.

"We'll find him," another man said. All their voices were unknown to me. I wanted to know who they were, to see their faces at least once, but in my distraction my foot came down on a creaky floorboard. As the others fell silent I felt myself become still, nervous and unsure. "Did you hear that?"

"There's no one here," the woman said impatiently. "We should get back to headquarters and let them know this was a waste of time."

"Hold on, just be quiet." The voice was closer to the stairs now. My heart bolted like a frightened horse at the shock but I lifted my wand out in front of me and waited, my muscles tightly knotted, for the man to come up the stairs. I heard each footfall as he climbed the steps. The instant I saw his head, caught his eye, I fired off a curse that narrowly missed his left ear and scorched the wall behind him instead.

"Bloody hell!" the other man swore, a few more choice words tumbling from his mouth as he came racing to his comrade's defense. Furious and scared I rattled of jinxes and curses one after the other, pushing the man back down the stairs as I took up the high ground on the landing. I could hold them off, maybe incapacitate one of them, then run. From the balcony of my parents room there was a way down to the ground. The woods bordered the property and led out onto country roads and fields full of grazing livestock. There were places to hide, if it became necessary. I couldn't think straight, though, and fleeing would just lead me further away from my sister.

Hitting the man who'd come up the stairs with a full body-bind curse, I ducked out of sight and stood panting with my back against the wall as I heard the wizard's body thud down the steps. "Harry!" the other man yelped. My ears strained for any sound of attack, I heard someone being dragged across the floor; probably the one I'd hit with the body-bind. "Dolohov? Are you up there, you son of a bitch?"

Furrowing my brow, I contemplated the disgust and fury in the man's voice. "No," I called back. "I'm the only one here." There was silence from downstairs for a moment and I smiled to myself. "I'm his daughter, but I'm no soft touch myself." Comparing myself to my father made my stomach lurch, but over the years I'd done terrible things. Free will was not a concept grasped by Lord Voldemort. Nor by my mother, it seemed.

The Imperius curse was like a dream, a strange and confusing dream that oftentimes turned to hellish nightmares. Coming out of it hurt after being under for so long, especially since it was broken in the most volatile way: by the death of my mother, the witch who'd cast it on me in the first place. I was just as guilty as my father, who took other people's pain and made it his pleasure.

"Where's Antonin?" the woman yelled up the stairs.

"Rotting in a shallow grave somewhere," I said venomously. Hugging the wall, I edged towards my parents bedroom and pushed open the door. Pausing, I struggled to imagine my parents spending a happy night in this room. Their entire marriage was punctuated by slavish devotion and cruelty. Love was not a factor in this household. Love was a rare gift that was strangled like a sapling on the forest floor before it could ever reach the light.

"Why did you attack?" The woman sounded as though she didn't care about the answer. Perhaps these people had painted me as a Death Eater, so naturally attacking would be my first instinct. I rolled my eyes at her comment.

"You're in my house. What do you expect?" I swallowed and ducked into the room, shutting the door behind me and speeding across to the French doors leading onto the balcony. Flinging them open, I wondered how long it would take for the intruders to realize I was no longer on the offensive. Not long at all, as it turned out.

I'd only just thrown both legs over the railing of the balcony when the bedroom door splintered and flew open. Almost slipping, I turned my head to see a dark-haired older woman brandishing a wand. "Impedimenta!" she cried. I didn't have the time to cast a shield charm and the spell hit me in the back, freezing me on the spot with my wand only half-raised. Off balance, my stunned body slipped over the edge of the balcony.

The ground came roaring up towards me.


	2. WITH YOUR WILD FURIES

The pain felt like hands squeezing my skull, crushing it beneath palms as strong and indomitable as mountains. Wincing, I tried to fight away the sensation but it was burrowing between my ears and wouldn't leave me. I didn't want to open my eyes, dimly aware that my head would ache harder if I did, but instinct won out. I cracked open my eyelids, the shapes around me blurry and inconsistent until I blinked several times to clear the fog.

My lips were dry. I wet them with my tongue and tried to take stock of what was hurting. My head was pounding, and by the way my foot felt heavy and weightless at the same time I surmised something was broken down there. My ankle? It certainly felt like it when I tried to move. Relieved that I wasn't fatally wounded, I turned my attention to my surroundings. The room appeared to be a cell, grey and cold with stone walls like building blocks. My stomach lurched uncomfortably. There were no windows. The furnishings were basic, replete with a cot bed and simple amenities like a toilet and a sink.

Though I wasn't bound by ropes, something less substantial held me in check. Possibly the remnants of the Impedimenta curse, or some other form of restraining spell. If I had my wand I could reverse the effects, but wishing for something doesn't make it a reality and if the people who'd captured me knew the first thing about fighting a war they would've disarmed me back at the house.

A sigh ghosted forth, the sound tired and lost and hurting. Kira was out there alone now. Lifting my eyes and struggling against the curse that still had its claws in me – moving felt like swimming through molasses – I felt my heart juddering inside my chest in panic. "Hey!" I shouted, the sound bouncing around in my battered skull, but I only yelled louder next time.

I screamed and screamed until my voice was hoarse, and only then did I hear the door start to open with a heavy grind of locks and tumblers. A wizard with classically handsome features and neat blonde hair entered, shutting the door behind him. He was tall, and broad-shouldered, though he looked tired and the exhaustion writ in the lines of his face made him seem older than he probably was.

"You're Antonina Dolohov," the man said, coming to stand in front of me. He folded his arms in front of his chest and gazed down a long nose at me. I couldn't get a read on his personal feelings; contempt was definitely there, but I was accustomed to that. He also seemed a tad excited. "Daughter of Antonin Dolohov and Helena Fortescue, both known Death Eaters."

"Is there a question in that?" I hissed, yet again testing the strength of my bonds.

"Do you deny who you are?" the man asked. "We know of your involvement with Lord Voldemort-" he didn't even falter over the name "-but Antonin's the real prize here. It'd be easier for you if you helped us."

Narrowing my eyes, I thought for a moment. I looked around again. I supposed I was in the Ministry, so any lies I could've told would be useless here. "My name is Antonina Dolohov," I began in a dull tone of voice, repeating what he'd said to me in the hopes that it would help my case. "My father is Antonin Dolohov, and my mother is Helena Fortescue. I have been under the Imperius curse for the last three years of my life and was only released from it several days ago, when my mother was killed by Aurors. If you insist on holding me prisoner, I demand a trial to prove I'm innocent of whatever you think I did."

A silence filled the cold, grey cell for a long moment. "Your mother put you under the Imperius curse?" the man asked. I could hear the incredulity in his voice. As though he couldn't believe a woman could do that to her own daughter, her own flesh and blood.

"Clearly you don't know much about my mother, or you wouldn't doubt me," I retorted, trying to lean forwards but finding the constriction around me tighten. "I have nothing to hide, nothing to deny. I have done nothing wrong."_Not willingly, not intentionally._ Perhaps I should've stayed gone, for my own sake as well as for Kira's. The only reason mother got her hooks into me was because I tried to take my sister away, like a fool. Sometimes evil is too hard to fight, too difficult to refuse.

The man took out his wand and gave it a perfunctory wave. My body tingled as the Impedimenta curse was lifted. "A healer will be in to see to your injuries," the man said before he turned on his heel and left the cell. The clang of the door closing was a hollow sound that filled me with dread.

It took every ounce of self-control I had not to beat the healer over the head and make a run for it. But she looked kind and she was gentle as she reset my broken ankle and healed the bruising I'd received from my tumble off the balcony. She left me with two tonics, one to dull the pain and the other to help the bone heal faster. I downed them both when she left, pulling faces at the horrible taste.

Free to stand up and move around, I paced the length and breadth of the cell. I wondered where Kira could be. I hoped desperately that she'd gone somewhere safe, but I couldn't imagine where that would be. Where was safe for a girl like her, who'd been abused her whole life? I'd done all I could, but it always felt like too little too late. Mother had never been kind to us, but I'd gotten away sooner and I learned how to fight back. Kira, as gentle as she was, could never stand up to our mother's hatred.

Father had likely absconded after the battle at Hogwarts, after the Dark Lord had finally been defeated. I remember hearing about it as though it was told to me in a dream once, a long time ago. Mother had been furious; she'd hit me, because I couldn't raise any kind of defense against her while I was under her power. Lifting my hand to touch my face, I traced where I imagined the mark from her blow had been.

My cheek was wet when my fingers touched my skin. I stopped my pacing and wiped away the tears, surprised at my tumultuous emotions. It could've been a result of being under mother's Imperius curse for so long. I hadn't had any control over my feelings then, either.

It had been several hours since I'd awoken and being in here, helpless and captive, was fraying my nerves. To keep myself occupied I studied the stonework of the walls, looking for weak points. The door was solid and I could feel magical wards sizzling the air whenever I touched it. Even if I'd had my wand, I wasn't certain I could've escaped. But why should I? I'd told no lie.

The man came back some time later, this time having brought food and drink with him. I eyed him suspiciously, not totally willing to accept anything he offered me. "Sit," he said, gesturing to the bed.

I contemplated ignoring his command, but in the end I took notice of my tired legs and aching back and I sat down on the edge of the cot. The man set the tray down beside me. A jug of water, a heel of bread, and a bowl of what looked like pumpkin soup. Not bad fare, but I wasn't hungry. I poured myself a cup of water and took a big swallow, the liquid soothing my sore throat.

"My name is Russell," he said, sitting down in the chair I'd recently been bound to. He held his chin between thumb and forefinger as he watched me thoughtfully. "I work for the Auror Department." He paused as though expecting me to congratulate him. "This is a secure holding cell in the Ministry of Magic. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"You said you wanted my help; what for?" I asked after a moment's thought. There were any number of questions I could've asked, and some I definitely should have, but I didn't know what they wanted from me yet.

"Your father and your brother are still at large. We're trying to bring them in. I understand that you might want to protect them... they're your family, but capturing them is a high priority for us. If you cooperated, there's a lot we could do for you." Russell shrugged in a falsely nonchalant way, his gaze on my face bright and fierce as a raptor.

Leaning forwards, I rested my forearms against my thighs and narrowed my eyes. "Protecting them is the very last thing I want to do. You'll get my help, but on one condition."

"You won't make any conditions until you're story is verified," Russell said carefully. "You must know that your position right now is precarious?"

I shook my head. "When you figure it out, there's someone I need to find." The wizard said nothing as he sat looking at me, prompting me with his silence. "My sister was there last night, at our house. I told her to go somewhere safe, but I don't know where she could be. If the wrong people find her-"

"You don't have to say any more," Russell interrupted. "What's her name?"

"Kira," I said. "You have to understand that I'm the only person in the world who will take care of her." My attention was riveted to the man's face, searching his eyes for something to reassure me that he would really be any help.

He nodded. "Eat," he said, standing up and going to the door. I didn't know what to make of that and was frowning in agitation when he turned back to face me in the doorway. "Your mother was killed four days ago. I thought you'd want to know that she's gone."

"I already know," I said blandly. "I felt it when she died."


End file.
